


Burning Up

by Pancakes_With_No_Clean_Fryingpans



Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: Burning things, Fluff, M/M, Phlogiston, Pining, Secret Crush, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 23:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12568572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pancakes_With_No_Clean_Fryingpans/pseuds/Pancakes_With_No_Clean_Fryingpans
Summary: Sinnett has a lot of feelings for Dr Jekyll so when the man asks him to show him his work, things get a little intense.





	Burning Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AuthorLoremIpsum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorLoremIpsum/gifts).



> A gift for Lorem since they love Sinnett sooo much. Seriously go read their Series of Sinnett fics. They are Great!
> 
> Also Important Note: Phlogiston theory is completely fictional. It doesn't apply to real life. Please don't take any of the science-babble in the fic to be scientific fact. 
> 
> Thank you!

Everything was a mess!

Rushing back and forth around his lab, Mr Sinnett seemed to find something wrong with everything in it. Eventually he gave up having swept the floor thrice and moved everything in the room an inch to the left and back again more times than was healthy. Thankfully Luckett was out for the day, or the Pyrologist was sure he’d have drove the poor man mad. He couldn’t help it. That morning Jekyll had caught his arm and pulled him aside to ask to be shown his work later that day. Sinnet had barely been able to spit out a “Certainly, Sir!” under the dark red that must have been his face. Even since then he had been trying to get the place respectable for the good doctor to see.

Urgh, how he wanted to impress the doctor. It was an extremely well-kept secret, in the thin walled society, that his feelings and respect of the doctor extended beyond what was probably acceptable. Especially about someone of high status. Especially about someone who was rumoured to already be in a relationship. Especially about a man! And now he had to talk to him! The pyrologist draped the cool metal of his prosthesis over his forehead, his cheeks gaining a rosey glow with each passing thought.

A sudden noise sent Sinnett leaping from his musings under the nearest bench. Any pyrologist that couldn’t go from standing to under cover, in less time than it took their experiments to go explosively wrong, didn’t stay a Pyrologist for very long. Sinnett had learned that the hard way. Breathing heavily, he waited for the imminent explosion. Instead, there was another knock on the door to the lab.

“Mr Sinnett?” came Jekyll’s voice from the other side of the door.

Oh, right. Crawling out from his hiding spot, the pyrologist rubbed at his face and failed to get any of the soot off. Sighing, he trotted over to the door and undid the latch. Looking down on him, with the last of the golden sunshine pouring over his shoulder, stood Dr Jekyll. Clean, précised, elegant, not a single lock of his soft looking brown hair out of place as the light behind him eclipsed into a glowing halo. Resisting the urge to test how soft it actually was, Sinnett skittered out his visitor’s way.

“A-Ah, C-come in! Sorry for the mess.”

Stepping forward, Jekyll greeted him with a smile and surveyed the room calmly.

“Seems fairly clean in here actually.”

“Well, yes, I did sorta tidy up a bit since I knew you would be coming and - erm…” he stuttered out, closing the door. Daring to drag his eyes from the safety of the wooden door, Jekyll’s expectant smile almost stopped his heart. It was like he knew just how to tip the pyrologist off balance!

“So where do we start?” The doctor said spinning around with a dramatic flourish.

“Ahhhhhhh- right.” Science. Science. He could science. Burning stuff and flames. Okay. “Um, well. ……. What do you want to know?”

“Anything you can tell me.” Beamed the man before continuing a touch embarrassed, “I’ve hit a bit of a stumbling block with my work and have a feeling Phlogiston might play a part.”

Alrighty then. Now come on, Sinnet.  Science doesn’t think about how that embarrassed look on Jekyll’s face causes it's stomach to do somesaults. No, it does not. Don’t think about his eyes looking to Sinnett for help, guidance or….. Burning sulphur. The increase in weight of a calx is equal to the mass of oxygen swapped with phlogiston. Science. Okay. And Breathe.

“How much do you know about phlogiston, sir?”

The doctor once again looked sheepish.

“Not much. It’s a component of combustion and is similar to hydrogen?? Or something along those lines. Forgive my lack of knowledge, I never really had a good handle on the subject.”

“Tskk. Preistley’s influence again.” Grumbled Sinnett, irritation acting as a wonderful distraction.

“Preistley?” Inquired Jekyll.

“He miscategorised it as another name for hydrogen, due to hydrogen being the most easily collected element given off when iron and steam are put in contact with each other making iron calx.”

“So, it’s not hydrogen?”

“Not at all. I’d explain it more as a place keeper. When an object is heated up the phlogiston inside it escapes causing it burn and even flame, the oxygen in the air takes the place it once held inside the object during this reaction, creating a calx or ash. But if there is no oxygen to takes its place, the phlogiston would only be released to be absorbed by the object again and no ignition would occur.”

“Fascinating!”

“This is why,” continued Sinnet, now fully in his element, “when a lit candle is placed under a jar. It’s light fades and dies. With no oxygen to replace the phlogiston, the phlogiston is not able to be released properly thus combustion cannot take place!”

“So how would the object come to store the phlogiston in the first place, might I ask?”

“Absorption by the air. We are currently surrounded by tiny quantities of phlogiston, but they aren’t causing ignition. In the same way we are surrounded by oxygen, and lighting a match does not set an entire roomful of air on fire.”

“So, the amount of Phlogiston would vary depending on the object,” Jekyll conjectured, “thus explaining why some materials ignite much more easily that others?”

“Yes!” He confirmed before muttering dreamily at the sight of Jekyll pondering the unknowns, “You really are beautiful.”

“Pardon?”

Uhhhhhhhhh, bolts and burners!! He’d said that outloud. Ahhhhh!

“Like…fuel or ‘e grease they use with bearings! Hydrocarbons! A-A lot of stored Phlogiston in there. Highly combustible. Yes, they are.”

Sinnett laughed nervously while Jekyll nodded thoughtfully, smile dimming for a moment.

“Ah, right. Sorry. Been a long day.” He apologised.

“So,” began the doctor again, smile suddenly back like it had never left, “how does this all link into the giant flamethrower?”

“It … doesn’t really. I just like to burn stuff.” He muttered off to the side.

A laugh burst forth from the man next to him, and Sinnett thought he might die. The sound was heavenly as could be, almost as much as the wide natural grin across the man’s face. And he’d put it there!

“W-would you like to see a demonstration?”

The doctor stopped mid laughed, face radiating excitement before he seemed to catch himself and tempered his expression down to a small smile.

“Yes. I think I would.”

Buzzing with energy, Sinnett clattered through the lab. Into cupboards and out, around the doctor and oh blast, he’d forgotten that part and oh this was broken, better go get another. A few moments of focused tweaking and tinkering, much to Jekyll’s barely hidden amusement, and he had set up the demonstration.

Gesturing to the doctor to come have a look, Sinnett busied himself with squeezing his latest fire proof filter model into a reinforced tube. Finished with that he pulled out two also reinforced clear vessels. Unscrewing the top of one of the vessels, he dumped a carefully measured quantity of ash into it; out of a jar labelled ‘Luckett’s Most Recent Hat’. Fiddling about with a set of scales, the pyrologist measured out a corresponding quantity of powdered charcoal into the second vessel. Sealing both, the tube was fixed the tops of both, essentially creating a passageway between the two vessels that was blocked by the filter.

Admiring his work for a moment, Sinnett noticed the interest the doctor was looking at equipment with and blushed. Maybe he could invite the Doctor around to show him his work more often. Mentally flailing at that idea, he pulled out one of the many flame throwers he owned. It was smaller than he usually used but a lot more manageable. Fiddling about with a box of matches, he managed to get the thing lit after a few tries. Then without another moment wasted, he began to heat up the charcoal. It took a while but eventually the charcoal caught alight and combusted dramatically inside the vessel. The smoke and fire spread up along the connecting tube only to be blocked by the filter. Worrying his lip as the filter began to heat up, Sinnett silently hoped that it wouldn’t catch fire like the past versions had.

“Come on. Come on.”, he muttered nervously, mentally encouraging the reaction.

As the filter crisped up slightly, a far more interesting change took place in the other vessel. The ash, that fluttered about from the sudden change in pressure across the vessels, suddenly burst in to bright and intense flames. Each flashed across the ash leaving small flecks of colour to whip around the vessel. Another flash and more colour. And another and another.  Pleased with the result, Sinnett turned off the flame thrower letting the reaction settle down before moving closer to the vessels. Clearer now everything had stopped swirling about, little patches of fabric could be seen where they hadn’t been before. Peering behind himself at the doctor, Sinnett hide a proud smile at the lot of utter wonder across the man’s features.

“Wait, Hold on. “stuttered the man, baffled. “How? What?!”

Tugging at his sleeve embarrased as he put the flame thrower down, Sinnett went on to explain.

“Ash is just a phlogiston-less compound. By returning the phlogiston to it, it returns to what it was before it was ash.”

“So, in this case, fabric?”

“Yes! It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”

There was a keen hum of agreement right by his ear. Oh dear. Dr Jekyll was… he was.. leaning over his shoulder to get a better look, wasn’t he? Sinnett swallowed down the lump in his throat. Turning his head slightly, his cheek bumped into the curve of Jekyll’s jawline, prompting an apology from the other as they put more torturous space between them. Sinnett knew he should say something in response but in all honesty he couldn’t think right now. It was like his brain had quietly melted away under the heat of his face without bothering to inform the rest of him. The spot where Jekyll’s sideburns had brushed against was still a glaring white hot compared to the rest of him.

“..nett?” The doctor’s concerned voice cut sharply through his mental haze.

“Huh?”

“Are you feeling well? You weren’t responding.”

He was looking down at him with such concern. This was it. This was the day he spontaneously combusted.

Ears on fire, the pyrologist managed to mumbled out, “I - I am feeling a little light headed.” As he swayed where he stood.

“Okay, let’s get you a seat and I’ll open the window, shall I?

He could only nod in response.

Jekyll puttered away to the back of the lab leaving him floating for a moment before the solid wood of a chair bumped into the back of his legs and he dropped into it, the doctor’s quick hands softening the blow of the back of the chair. Another chair scraped across the wood across from him as Jekyll kept a worried hand hovering over his shoulder. When he determined it was safe to leave him be, he left Sinnett’s sight quickly, almost like he had never been there. Rubbing his face, Sinnett sighed into the cold grime of his prosthetic giving him a momentary relief. It grounded him. Something opened behind him and a sudden cooler draught made him shiver and sigh. Then Jekyll was back in the chair next to him, their knees almost touching, and the sigh caught in his throat.

“Better?”

He nodded in reply. This didn’t seem to appease the doctor as he leant forward, removing his glove, and rested a surprisingly course palm against the pryologist’s forehead.

“You’re a bit warm, Mr Sinnett.” He muttered pressing the back of his hand against each of his cheeks lightly in turn. Meanwhile, Sinnett dared not breathe.

“Maybe we should continue this another time?”

Another time. Yes, maybe they should. Feeling faint all of a sudden, Sinnett’s head fell forward… right onto Dr Jekyll’s chest. Oh right. Not breathing causes a sudden decrease in the amount of oxygen reaching a person’s brain. That’s perfect logical. The chest breathed under him and he was hit by what exactly he was doing.

“Sinnett?”

Jekyll sounded concerned. Sinnet’s mouth was too dry for words. None of his muscles were responding! And all the while, his head spun faster and faster. Why did Jekyll smell like peppermint?

“Mr Sinnett, I think it might be best if you have a lie down for a bit. You seem rather unwell.”

Sinnett could only nod as the doctor’s arms helped him to his feet. In a blur of memory, somehow Jekyll guided him down the hall to the pryologist’s bed room. Sinnett took a moment to wish he’d bothered to tidy it a bit before the doctor guided his dizzy charge towards the bed. Bumping into the frame, Sinnett’s balance abandoned him entirely. Flailing, his momentum carried him forward taking the off-guard Jekyll down with him onto the mattress, landing both on the bed. Realising he was nuzzled into the doctor’s chest, finally Sinnett’s voice returned to him.

 “emsoosorry.”

“It’s okay.” Chuckled the doctor adjusting under his weight, “Just get some rest, okay? You’ve had a long day too, it seems.”

Gently rolling off the body under him, Sinnett made to protest but a lazy hand stopped him. Long fingers petted his head soothingly and soon he let out a yawn. Hunkering down into the bedding, Sinnett vowed to move the moment his dizziness passed. This… This just wasn’t proper, regardless of how nice it felt. A few quite moments passed, nothing changed. The fingers in his hair, the breathing next to him, the ambient noises of the lodgers elsewhere in the building working. It was steady and relaxing. Sinnett let his eyes shut, breathed deeply, smelling peppermint, and smiled.

Eventually, the fingers stopped moving and his eyes peeled open. He wasn’t dizzy anymore, so it was unfortunately time to move. Sitting up the hand fell from his head limply onto the sheets, as Sinnett rubbed the dangerous beginnings of sleep from his eyes. Turning to the man at his side, he started speaking only to stop.

Henry Jekyll was lying there sound asleep. Brunette locks splayed out onto the pillow as his entire body was curled up slightly on the covers, his mouth a jar a little and a soft pinkness dusting his cheeks that came naturally with sleep. It was beautiful. But it wouldn’t last. Locking away the memory of the scene before him to recall later, the pyrologist considered what to do.

He should probably wake him, give the man a chance to pass out in his own bed instead of Sinnett’s but he looked so comfortable. And it was no secret that Jekyll has trouble getting to sleep. Coming to a decision, the lodger carefully disentangled himself from the doctor. A blanket was found and then draped over the other’s sleeping form as Sinnett’s settled into the chair by his desk, shifting through paper on his work. And that was how it stayed, Sinnett quietly working and Jekyll sleeping peacefully till he woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave comments on how to improve my work. I'm always looking to get better at writing. I hope you enjoyed the fic. :D


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